I recently purchased a Lynxmotion autonomous A4WD rugged wheeled rover my thesis project , and i finding it difficult to write the motor encoders to the botboarduino . I have a background in aerospace engineering structures so wiring and electronics are still alittle new to me. Is there anyone who can help me figure that out and also help me with understanding how to initiate providing a code to the botboarduino to cause motion of the rover? I have the Arduino environment downloaded and tried it myself but the motors would not spin.
I connected the 4 encoders of the 4 motors to the pins on the far right side of the botboarduino. The motor controller provides power to the botboarduino but I’m not sure how to reference those pins in the code. I searched and other people used the PWM pins at the top but I’m not sure if those are used are connected to those??
Once you have that working you can try using the encoders. The botboarduino doesn’t have enough dedicated interrupt pins (you need 8 inputs, 2 for each enconder), however, if you want to use them (using an extra microcontroller or an expansion board) this example may come in handy:
Where the A & B channels (of each encoder) should be connected to interrupt pins.
Additional info:
The botboarduino also supports “pin change interrupts” that allow you to detect a change in state (high to low or low to high) on a larger set of pins compared to the dedicated i In the ATmega328, there are three Pin Change Interrupt vectors (PCINT0, PCINT1, and PCINT2) that correspond to three groups of pins:
PCINT0 corresponds to digital pins 8 to 13 on the Arduino Uno.
PCINT1 corresponds to analog input pins A0 to A5 on the Arduino Uno.
PCINT2 corresponds to digital pins 0 to 7 on the Arduino Uno.
So in theory it could be possible but challenging because of the computational overhead of handling so many interrupts.
Hello, thank you for your response and assistance!
I did as you instructed with the set up and tried out the code to turn the motor, and uploaded the code into Arduino but the TX, RX and Red LED lights turned on with a buzzing sound but no rotation in motors. The error light also came on onto the Sabertooth board, I believe the code was unable to be uploaded onto botboarduino, achieving this error code:
Sketch uses 3016 bytes (9%) of program storage space. Maximum is 30720 bytes.
Global variables use 236 bytes (11%) of dynamic memory, leaving 1812 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 2048 bytes.
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 1 of 10: not in sync: resp=0xd7
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 2 of 10: not in sync: resp=0xd7
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 3 of 10: not in sync: resp=0xd7
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 4 of 10: not in sync: resp=0xd7
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 5 of 10: not in sync: resp=0xd7
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 6 of 10: not in sync: resp=0xd7
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 7 of 10: not in sync: resp=0xd7
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 8 of 10: not in sync: resp=0xd7
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 9 of 10: not in sync: resp=0xd7
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 10 of 10: not in sync: resp=0xd7
Failed uploading: uploading error: exit status 1
I set up the Arduino Environment to be “Arduino Duemilanove or Diecimila” with the Processor being “ATmega328P” as these were the closest options to what was suggested in the manual.
Do you know what could be causing this upload error?
As you mentioned, one of the problems is that you weren’t able to upload the code to the botboarduino so let’s try to upload a simpler code.
Disconnect everything from the botboarduino (except the USB cable of course), on the Arduino IDE go to:
File > Example > Basics > Blink
Choose your board “Arduino Duemilanove or Diecimila” and the COM port.
Once uploaded the LED “L” (under the power LED) will start blinking.
If this doesn’t work please check how the jumpers are placed
If everything seems correct check the following troubleshooting steps:
Hardware Checks:
Check the USB Cable: Sometimes the issue is as simple as a faulty or loose USB cable. Try using a different cable to see if the issue is resolved.
Check the COM Port: Ensure that you’ve selected the correct COM port in the Arduino IDE.
Check the Drivers: Make sure that the necessary drivers for the Arduino board are installed on your computer.
Software Checks:
Arduino IDE Version: Sometimes an outdated IDE can cause issues. Make sure you’re using the latest version of the Arduino IDE.
Firewall/Antivirus: Sometimes, security software can block the necessary ports. Disable your firewall and antivirus software temporarily to see if that resolves the issue.
Upload Settings: Check that you’ve chosen the correct settings for “Programmer” under Tools > Programmer.
Restart the IDE: Sometimes simply restarting the Arduino IDE or your computer can resolve the issue.
Serial Monitor: Make sure the Serial Monitor is closed before you upload, as it can interfere with the uploading process.
I did as you asked and restarted my computer. I was able to upload the code and the LED PWR and D4 lights came on with the buzzing sound, but no motors were turning. Is this supposed to happen? I was looking at the code and it mentioned keyboard letters. I set the baud rate to 115200 as mentioned in the code and tried sending some commands through serial monitor but nothing happened the the motors stayed still. I tested out the motors to ensure they were not faulty and they all spun individually so i am not sure what could be wrong. Kindly help, and thank you so much for your help through this process
I was looking at the code and it mentioned keyboard letters. I set the baud rate to 115200 as mentioned in the code and tried sending some commands through serial monitor
Oops forgot to give instructions for the code but you figured it out! That’s exactly what you are supossed to do
Do you get any error LED lights on the sabertooth?
